Hundreds of motorhome owners are breaking out their camp chairs and coolers this week in Gatineau.

Just another sunny August weekend in the region’s many campgrounds? Not quite. Several dozen recreational vehicles were already set up Wednesday in the parking lot at the Robert Guertin Centre in Gatineau for a five-day country music festival.

The Festival Country du Grand Gatineau is an annual tradition that brings friends and family together from towns outside the region, said Claudette Saumure, of Notre-Dame-des-Chants, Ont., who arrived on Sunday for a week-long stay. That early arrival guaranteed a primo spot for her RV.

“Come and sit down!” she said, offering a visitor a lawn chair. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been doing this, so we have made a lot of friends.”

Saumure watched another RV drive by, looking for a good spot. Many of the festival attendees are retired, but it attracts people of all ages, she said. “We know everybody. All the same people do the same festivals.”

There is, in fact, a Québécois country festival circuit, with more than a dozen cities and towns holding country music hoedowns. Saumure said she just came back a few days ago from the Festival Western de Lachute, northwest of Montreal.

A Western-themed festival in Saint-Tite is one of Canada’s biggest annual rodeos and attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year.

“We’re lucky to have these festivals. We never get bored,” said Saumure. “Often, this is the only time we get together as family and friends. In the summer, brothers, sisters and friends, we meet up here.”

Country music has long had a strong following in Quebec and it just continues to grow, particularly the Québécois brand of country music, said Saumure, adding it’s the kind of music that plays all day long at her home.

Roger Lavoie, one of Saumure’s friends, said he’s already been to eight or nine festivals this year. He started listening to American country music when he was 18 or 20 years old. He just came back from visiting with family at a campground.

But this kind of thing is more up his alley, and the price is right.

“You’re here for maybe $110 or $120 and you’re here for a week. Go to the campground, and it’s $45 every day,” said Lavoie. “You don’t get music. You don’t know your neighbours.”

Full festival passes here are $60 for five nights of music. The low price means families can get together and eat out at restaurants each day, said Lavoie. He said he and his friends took the opportunity to hit up the nearby St-Hubert barbeque Tuesday night.

“You have to spend in your retirement,” he said.

He said many people are excited to see the young Yoan Garneau, who won a popular TV singing competition, La Voix, in April at 18 years old.

“I was surprised that someone country-western won La Voix,” said Lavoie. “He’s good. He doesn’t sing a lot of songs, but he’s young. He’ll learn some.”

Wednesday night, the festival’s first, features a competition with participants from the Outaouais region. Other major headliners include Irwin Blais, Jean-Rock Cumming, Louis Bérubé, Xception, Country Rock Twisters, Jonathan Godin and Tendence Alcoolique – a Johnny Cash tribute band.

Apart from a possible sprinkling of rain Wednesday it looked like country fans are in for perfect sunny weather for urban camping this week.

Saumure, Lavoie and their friends, relaxing in a circle of lawn chairs outside, aren’t even worried about the rain in Wednesday afternoon’s forecast.

“No, no. It’s not going to rain,” said Saumure with a smile. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky Wednesday morning, and besides: The walk home from the festival tent each night is only a few metres.

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